Too Much Attention
by innocent as far as you know
Summary: Mikan and Youichi are running from the men who killed their parents. Mikan manages to land a job at Hotaru's restaurant. Hotaru knows somethings off with Mikan's story and Natsume, a famous playboy that frequents the restaurant, doesn't understand why Mikan's rejecting his advances and why he thinks of her so much. All Mikan knows is that her life is getting too much attention.
1. Chapter 1

.:o0O0o:.

Mikan gasped at the pain in her side as she ran, dragging the smaller form of her little brother along behind her. Her legs felt like they were going to give out beneath her and her ribs felt like they were shrinking- a sure sign of her impending athsma attack, but she knew they couldn't stop.

"Just a little farther, Youichi," she said between pants. "Just a little bit more and we can rest." Her actions contradicted her words as she slumped against the side of the train car. Youichi nodded silently, taking gulps of air and sweating with exertion. Not far away, there came the sound of gun shots and shouting, and the little silver-haired boy tugged on his sisters arm, urging her to get up and continue. His eyes widened slightly in fear as her wheezing got slightly worse. He knew she wouldn't be able to last much longer, but if the choice was for Mikan to have an athsma attack or for both of them to get caught, they would choose the former, since there was actually a chance for survival.

Both teens jerked into a stumbling run and then into a full-out sprint as the shouting grew nearer. They didn't know who exactly was chasing them, but they had already seen their parents killed before them and they knew the men meant business. Youichi's eyes scanned the area desperately, knowing his sister didn't have very much time left.

"There," he said, pointing to a train car whose door was slightly open. It was attached to one of the engines with several cars between them, and Youichi could make out faint figures near the front of the train, which meant it was going to leave soon and that the people were too far away to hear any commotion.

They both ran to the train car and Youichi was about to hoist himself up into it when he saw that Mikan was having difficulty. He hopped back down and picked her up in his arms and thrust her into the empty train car before clambering in himself, thanking God that he had taken weight lifting as an elective. He hopped up quickly and closed the door before tending to his sister.

Mikan looked awful. She was just lying there on the floor, back arched, entire body seizing as she tried to breath, staring up at the ceiling through unseeing eyes that were rapidly filling with tears. Her lips and fingertips were starting to turn a blue color and she started coughing, no doubt trying to expel the thick mucous that would show up on the inflamed tissue during an athsma attack.

Youichi shoved a rescue inhaler into her mouth and timed the puffs so that they would enter her mouth right as she tried to take a breath, and he sat back on his ankles and waited a few minuets before realizing that the short-acting beta agonists in the regular inhaler must not be working. Her wheezing had stopped, but he wasn't stupid, he knew what this was. It was at this point in her asthma attack that her lungs had tightened so much that there was no longer enough air passing through to produce wheezing. He grunted worriedly, unhappy at the situation, and rushed to pull a bag off of his back. From inside the bag he pulled out a second inhaler with a slightly different shape that read 'Nebulized Ipratropium' on the side.

He forced two puffs into her mouth, covering the gaps left between the mouthpiece of the inhaler and her gaping mouth with his hands so that none of the medication could escape.

After two minuets, it seemed that she was no longer in life threatoning condition, so Youichi gently rolled her over, talking the backpack off of her back and laying it beside his before laying down in the train car and curling up around her, careful not to put an weight on her chest or obstruct her ability to breathe before smiling slightly as the train started to move, indicating that they were on their away to a new world, a new life, a new beginning for the both of them.

It was that thought that lulled him to sleep as they left the town of their childhood behind.

.:o0O0o:.

What did you think?


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Youichi woke up, Mikan was already awake and had started going through their bags. He knew there probably wasn't very much in the bags that would be particularly useful at the moment, like real food, and he sunk into the memory what exactly had happened.

It was probably around five o'clock when Mikan and Youichi arrived at their house. Mikan had been at school for her art club and Youichi had been at the library, doing his homework as he waited for her, just a typical Tuesday night for the both of them. Normally they would have arrived half an hour or so later, since they would usually take the bus and had to wait for all of the other stops between the school and their house, but one of Mikan's friends had given them a ride home.

They got home and everything was normal, their parents weren't home, and that was a little odd, but the two teens just put it off as their parents staying late at work or having gone to the grocery store, not anticipating their children being home so early. Mikan and Youichi went to their rooms, to do homework and play video games respectively, and the house was peaceful again.

About fifteen minuets later, the front door slammed open loudly enough for Youichi to hear it and pause his game, going over to the door to look out just in time to see Mikan poking her head out as well. They both heard shouting from downstairs, a voice that didn't belong to either of their parents. Their confusion turned to fright and horror as a gun went off in the front room and something hit the floor with a dull thump.

"Pack a bag," Mikan mouthed to Youichi, who nodded then hastily retreated into his room. Out of his closet came an old backpack, empty save for the broken pens and bits of paper that always seem to build up in a backpack by the end of a school year. He packed some socks, underwear, two shirts, a sweatshirt, and a pair of pants first, then decided to add deodorant and a toothbrush and toothpaste just in case, since he didn't know how long he'd be away. Into the bag went the first aid kit and, when he heard more shouting downstairs, he decided they might be away a little longer than he had originally thought and he dumped the entire contents of his miniature safe into his bag along with the two wallets he used on a regular basis. He quickly grabbed his phone charger as well and zipped up the bag, putting it on his back and patting his pockets to make sure he still had his phone before running into Mikan's room.

Mikan was rushing around her room grabbing clothes, money, art supplies, and medication like a whirlwind and Youichi could see that she wasn't going to have enough room in her bag. Mikan was a packrat, and they both liked to joke that if she was left alone, she'd become a hoarder, but now wasn't really the time to be packing everything she owned. Youichi took his backpack off his back and set it on the bed, reaching to move her medication to his bag before freezing as they both heard a scream from downstairs.

"Mom!" They both said to each other, and Mikan started to turn towards the door, no doubt about to do something stupid like trying to go downstairs and help her, but Youichi grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look at him.

"No," he said. "We can't help her, we don't know who's down there. She wouldn't want you to go rushing into danger like that."

"But..." Mikan started to protest, her eyes darting to the door and then back to her brothers face.

"No, Mikan." He said sternly. "Pack. I don't think we will be able to come back." Mikan nodded, knowing she could always count on her brother to be the voice of reason, especially when she was caught up in her emotions. She turned back to her bed and the things she had been planning on packing and started removing things from the bed. Once that was done, she started packing her own bag, holding each item up for Youichi's perusal.

"Blanket, in case we get cold." She said. Youichi nodded. "Two t-shirts, two pairs of pants, and a dress." She said.

"No dress." Youichi said.

"What if I need to get a job?" Mikan countered. "I'd need to look respectable for a job interview." She said, and Youichi nodded. "Money." He nodded again. "Socks, underpants, and bras." Youichi nodded. "Embroidery floss, wire, and wire cutters."

"What do you need it for?" He asked.

"In case I don't get a job I can make jewelry and sell it on the street." She said. "It'd be better than begging." Youichi was anything but artsy, preferring to focus his attention on intellectual things like math and science, but where he lacked in creativity, Mikan made up for it in spades. Not to say that she wasn't smart in her own right, but it just wasn't her passion. Mikan loved to make things with her hands, pulling images out of the crevices of her mind and making them in watercolor, pastel, yarn, or wire- it didn't matter. She was an artist at heart. Youichi nodded and, while she wasn't looking, he picked up a set of colored pencils, a sharpener, and an empty sketch book. She would need an outlet and he knew she wouldn't dare ask to bring something that would take up so much space.

"Crank flashlight and charger?" She asked, holding up one of their camping flashlight that didn't require batteries and would instead only light up if someone was turning the hand crank, producing energy. The charger worked the same way, and could act as an electrical plug if cranked long and fast enough. It was still in her room, probably not having been put away from the last time they had all gone camping.

"Two sweatshirts- for warmth and maybe pillows?" Mikan asked and Youichi nodded. "Granola bars?" She asked, holding up the small box of granola bars and fruit leather she kept by her bed for when she was too lazy to get real food. Youichi nodded. "You got first aid?" She asked. Youichi nodded and replied.

"And your medication, plus some pain meds." He said, and Mikan nodded.

"License?" She said, holding up the small card. Youichi nodded.

"Do you think we should have deodorant, soap, or hair brushes?" Mikan asked. Youichi nodded and Mikan quietly made her way across the hall to the bathroom to grab the aforementioned items, along with a toothbrush for her. While she was out of the bedroom, she tip toed to her parents room, taking all the money she could find as well as the knife her father kept in his bed side drawer. Just in case, she thought as she walked back to her room.

She held up the items for Youichi's consent, putting them in her bag once he nodded, before deciding at the last minuet to hand the knife and its sheath to her brother.

"Here," she said. "You've been taking all those self-defense and weight lifting courses, you'd be able to use it better." As she spoke, she put her back pack onto her back. Youichi nodded and took the knife clipping it to his belt before shouldering his bag.

"Ready?" He asked, and Mikan nodded. He went to her window and cranked it open before cursing as the automated alarm went off downstairs.

"Second floor bedroom: Window Open." It said, then beeped twice.

"Lock the door!" Youichi hissed as he worked the window open more. Mikan did as she was told, squeaking lightly in fright as she heard a man shouting at someone to go check the upstairs bedrooms. Youichi struggled with the screen for a moment before cursing, "Fuck this!" and taking out the knife to cut a hole in the thin wires. He shoved the mesh apart as he thrust his shoulders through the gap, stumbling out onto the gently sloping section of roof that was right outside his sisters window.

The image of the two of them eating apples out here on the roof while watching the sunset came to mind, but he shook the image from his head violently as he helped his sister through the window. They both made their way to the end of the roof and swung themselves over, grasping onto the trellis to keep from falling into the garden below. They climbed down and then ran, weaving through the trees and garden beds that permeated their back yard until they got to the back gate. Youichi hopped it with ease, vaulting himself up and over, but his sister, with her short stature and lack of muscle mass, was having more trouble. Mikan had managed to lift herself enough that she could see over, but she was struggling to swing her leg over the fence, which was just about at her head height.

Suddenly, there was shouting from the direction of the house, and Mikan looked back to see men with guns running towards her. Adrenalin pumped through her body with every beat of her heart and it was that sight that made her able to hoist the rest of her over the fence, though it was a less than graceful landing, her hands managing to break her fall and scrape themselves up in the process.

Youichi helped her up before running, dragging her stumbling form along behind him, and they crossed the street behind their house to the neighborhood on the other side. Mikan could feel her lungs and throat quiver and start to burn as her body told her it didn't like all of this running around and panicking. They ran together over sidewalks and driveways, through backyards and streets, trying to evade the shouting and pounding of feet behind them that they could never seem to escape.

They ran and ran, until they came upon the train yard and began ducking and weaving behind the train cars as they sat unmoving and empty on their tracks.

And that was how they ended up here, thought Youichi. Here on this empty moving train car going who knows where, not knowing what happened to their parents, or why the men were in their house, or what was going to happen to them.

Simply not knowing.

.:o0O0o:.

Thoughts?


End file.
